KFC Gives Up The Colonel For Hungry Children

South Africa, October 2, 2013 /3BL Media/ - To mark World Hunger Relief month, KFC South Africa has given up their Colonel logo and replaced it with the smiling faces of children. These faces represent the children that benefit from KFC’s Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, Add Hope.

The extraordinary move is part of KFC’s Add Hope Campaign for October and reinforces the long-term commitment to child hunger relief in South Africa. From 1 October to 9 November, customers will see six little faces at 114 KFC stores, one in each major city across the country.

Since its launch in 2009, Add Hope has raised over R183-million towards feeding hungry children. KFC Africa Managing Director Doug Smart says “KFC Add Hope brings our brand, customers and staff together to make a difference, because we quite simply believe, a hungry nation can never be a growing one”.

More than 12-million South Africans go hungry every day^[1]. A fifth of the population. The majority being children, women and the elderly. “The future of our children only looks brighter with a full tummy, so they can learn, grow and thrive. Through our Add Hope initiative we partner with over 90 beneficiaries across the country, including early childhood development organisations, children’s homes and school feeding programmes and we feed more than 40 000 children every month” says Smart.

The Add Hope initiative which runs all year round, lets customers purchase a menu item, “Add Hope”, for just R2 and have it added to their order. KFC believes Add Hope sits at the heart of its brand and as such, its franchisees also contribute a percentage of their marketing funds.

The campaign is a follow-on to Add Hope’s 2012 ‘Journey of Hope’, whereby extreme adventurer Riaan Manser cycled from Cape Town to Johannesburg on a limited calorie diet – literally spelling out the word ‘Hope’ across the South African landscape to highlight the plight of hunger.

KFC’s goal is to raise R2-million during the month of October from its customers to continue to spreading hope.    

About Add Hope:
In 2007, KFC parent company YUM! International adopted the cause of hunger relief as their CSI initiative. Believing that it could use its iconic brand status to contribute to society, and tackle the world’s number 1 health risk - hunger. KFC South Africa launched the Add Hope campaign through the introduction of a fictitious menu item that cost R2 which goes towards feeding a hungry child. They now have 90 partner beneficiaries onboard and feed 40 000 hungry South African children every month.

¹ A five year study, by the University of Cape Town's African Food Security Unit Network